ok so I put an American wheat into the fermenter (better brew 6 gal) this Saturday and it looks like a science project... I think i've lost about 1/2 gal of beer! what's interesting to me was that my mash efficiency was on the low side, and I didn't think there was that much sugar in the wort. oh welps. looks like I'm not alone:

I have made several wheat beers now and always plan on a very active fermentation. (Thumper tube required). Like you, I lost a little efficiency and should plan for that in the future batches. I use WLP300 as it always produces a great wiezen. Malted wheat ferments differently than barley. Even with a 6.5 gallon carboy I have blow off.

brewmeisterintng wrote:I have made several wheat beers now and always plan on a very active fermentation. (Thumper tube required). Like you, I lost a little efficiency and should plan for that in the future batches. I use WLP300 as it always produces a great wiezen. Malted wheat ferments differently than barley. Even with a 6.5 gallon carboy I have blow off.

So thats what the
heck I've had going on with my witbeirs.I'thought it was the S-33 yeast.I brewed 2 batches that took off like rockets and fermented completely in 24hrs.

Wheat beers are traditionally brewed cooler than a lot of homebrewers tend to ferment. Close to 60-62°F works well for me. You may find this reduces the frequency of gushing fermentations and improves the flavor.

slothrob wrote:Wheat beers are traditionally brewed cooler than a lot of homebrewers tend to ferment. Close to 60-62°F works well for me. You may find this reduces the frequency of gushing fermentations and improves the flavor.

Is that 60F room temp. or the temp you get the wort down to?Say 52F in a temp controlled fridge?I started my last one at 65F room temp and ended up moving it to my fridge at 50F trying to calm it down but it was too late.

well just as a followup, I racked the beer last week and now it's been cooling its proverbial jets in the secondary since then. looks good, but boy, between trub and blowoff i've lost a fair amount of volume. next time, i'll definitely go with my 7 gal bucket and leave the hi-tech Better Bottle for the lagering of a lager.

i still see occasional yeast chunks fly to the top of the wort leaving a little vapor yeast trail. it will not be denied its full lifecycle!

wow, this beer really came out great. I think the original problem I had with low mash yield was my lackluster (read: crappy) sparging technique which I've since fixed in a couple beers since this one was brewed.

Some more notes on the Wyeast 1010: early on, the beer was very tart, very interesting how the yeast produced that intensity. But after another week or so, the tart flavors mellowed out and balanced nicely in the overall taste experience.

The beer also had a really nice mouthfeel and luckily I had an extract-only brew on hand for some A-B comparison. Amazing how adding some actual grain to your brew really fills out the flavor eh?

I want to brew it again, this time in the hopes of having the mash yield put out more, and possibly change up the hops using others from the 'citrus' hop family like Ahtanum or Amarillo. Dare I use Summit? And again, definitely using the 7 gallon bucket

Anyway, I'll be posting the recipe in the archive and I'll link it here. Thanks, everyone, for all your advice!

edit: oh i forgot to mention to help make up some of the gravity loss, I added about a pound or so of DME (boiled in water, etc) to the wort. Assuming I don't do that the next time around, we'll see how it affects the body of the beer.